Kauwboy

As a Barbican Young Programmer, today I had a training day at the BFI Southbank with my fellow programmers. We had talks on programming the London Film Festival from Michael Hayden (Festival Programmer, LFF) and Justin Johnson (Family Programmer, LFF); programming your own film festival from the BFI FILMCLUB team (a little irrelevant as it was really aimed at primary / young secondary school students…); and programming a children’s film festival from members of the programming and marketing teams at Cinemagic (Belfast Children’s Film Festival). This is one of the things I love about this programme at the Barbican: we’re getting to meet and talk to people who actually review / programme / certify films, and I’ve never met so many people who are all so utterly enthusiastic about their jobs! Clearly this “non-glamorous” side of the film industry isn’t so bad afterall…

At the end of the day we rushed into NFT2 to watch Kauwboy, a film being shown in the LFF and that is due to be shown at the Barbican’s Framed Film Festival in November. I’m involved in Framed so I’ll be blogging about it a lot in November, and I can already say with confidence that it’s going to be amazing! It’s aimed primarily at young people, with the films targeting audiences from 4-roughly 18 years of age; however it can definitely be enjoyed by everyone. At the moment notable features have to be Kauwboy and One Mile Away (which I have a half-finished blog post written that I will complete and post asap!). I’ll blog further details nearer the time, but I expect to hear from you all about the films you came to see and what you thought of them!

“Take good care of a jackdaw and you’ll have a friend for life.”

Kauwboy is the first feature film from Dutch director Boudewijn Koole, and after making its debut at the Berlin Film Festival earlier this year – where it won the Best First Feature Film award – it has gone on to garner further critical acclaim following every screening. It’s with this knowledge that I approached the film, simultaneously expecting something extraordinary and yet not knowing what to expect at all.

Ten-year-old Jojo lives with his father, a volatile man that works constantly and on the rare occasions that he’s home he drinks until passed out. Jojo’s mother, a singer, is thought to be on tour and Jojo speaks to her on the phone constantly, lying about his father’s negligent and violent behaviour. An isolated and lonely boy, Jojo forms an unlikely friendship with a jackdaw he finds in a field, developing a firm bond with the bird while nursing it back to health and teaching it to fly. However, he knows his father will never allow him to keep it, so how long can he hide the bird that has lifted his spirits so considerably?

It’s a charmingly crafted and touching film, driven – rather spectacularly – by the performance of Rick Lens, the haunted and lonely Jojo. He’s quite frankly incredible. His performance underpins the whole film, and it’s entirely thanks to him that the audience believes so strongly in the unorthodox central friendship. They say never to work with animals and children, but Koole struck gold with Lens. He interacts with the jackdaw with a subtle intensity showing just how much Jojo valued having someone – something – in the world to care for and that cared for him. This made a certain scene towards the end of the film even more shocking, and I’ve never been in a cinema before where the entire audience took a sharp intake of breath at the same time. For a good ten minutes, you could have heard a pin drop: Lens is Just. That. Good.

Jojo’s father – disinterested and initially an obvious case for a visit from social services – is a mess throughout the film, emotionally damaging his son and even sending him to a water polo practice with a black eye. It’s this relationship that raises so many questions throughout the film, most obviously the issue of domestic abuse. The film had been rated suitable for ages 8+, however if the thick blanket of tension that practically suffocated the audience every time the father became angry and Jojo flinched / locked his bedroom door / ran away was anything to go by, I’d say it was definitely not a film for young children. Without giving the game away, there’s more to the father-son relationship than meets the eye and by the end of the film you miraculously don’t hate the father as much as you feel you should. They’ve both experienced major emotional distress, which Koole manages to handle with the dignity and respect it deserves.

Reminiscent of Ken Loach’s Kes, Koole’s semi-autobiographical feature really is a must see. It’s a beautifully constructed account of a young boy in desperate need of guidance, a friend and a healthy dose of unconditional love, all of which he finds hidden in the bushes at the bottom of a tree in the form of a jackdaw. A little unconventional, immensely thought provoking and achingly tender, Kauwboy should not be missed, and because it’s being shown at the Barbican Framed Film Festival on Sunday 25th November 2012 at 2pm, there’s no excuse for you not to experience this cinematic triumph for yourself.